Kitchen Essentials

Kitchen Essentials

I thought I’d share my most commonly used kitchen items. So if you’re setting up home, sending a student to College/University or just wanting to know for a specific recipe, this may help. (BTW this is all cheap supermarket/Pound World stuff, not high-end equipment!)

Measuring:

Spoons (either actual cutlery and a tablespoon or a set of measuring spoons)

Measuring cups

Scales: make sure you can read them: Size of display, whether it’s metric or imperial, digital or not….get familiar with them (mine are cheap digital ones from Argos but they do liquid measurements as well 🙂 )

Measuring jug: For yeast activation in pizza, pancake batter, gravy…the list is endless. Mine is a cheap plastic one but if you want to by Pyrex (or similar) you can use it to microwave and steam stuff in too.

Basic knives: At least a small paring knife, a bread knife and a carver (for things bread knife can’t handle…like swede and meat with bones in)

….And that’s about it! All of this will only set you back around £40 (assuming baking trays and utensils are £1 or less each, which they are in Pound stores, Argos and all supermarket basic ranges!) If you’re reading my blog as an established house-holder then try to replace as you go or invest in extras.

Some people may point out I have no whisk on my list, that’s because I very rarely use one! I beat cake mix with my wooden spoon and whisk eggs and batter with a regular table fork, but if you want one, go ahead: They’re definitely in the ‘a quid or less’ category! 🙂

If you are looking a bit further ahead, I recommend 2 products:

A hand blender with different attachments (for puree like soups, coarse chopping and my Braun one has a whisk and a mini food processor attachment I use for guacamole ) My first was a wedding present and it only gave up last year! HAD TO replace it, like immediately! They’re around £20-£30 in Argos well worth the investment in my opinion.

Slow cooker: Again £20-30, don’t go nuts on one! Just getting to grips with mine (never occurred to me I could use it as a bain-marie to steam puddings until Mr B bought me a slow cooker recipe book!) but I can tell you Sunday roast has never been so easy!

I hope this helps you explore cookery, or if you’re a seasoned cook perhaps it will help you eliminate the unnecessary?